Your Corporatocracy in Action

When the Supreme Court handed down the decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which granted corporations, unions, and nonprofits the latitude to donate freely to political campaigns and thus effectively bankroll federal elections, I grimly mused: "It is not hyperbole to say this decision is paving the way for America to become a fully-fledged corporatocracy, which, depending on your perspective, is a sibling to fascism or a version of it. ...This decision further diminishes any voice that isn't backed with a fuckload of money. Someday, we may look back on this day and realize it was the day our democracy died."

Today, People for the American Way is reporting that the repeal of President Obama's healthcare legislation has been "Bought and Paid for by Citizens United." Irrespective of one's feelings about the healthcare legislation itself, that its repeal is being driven not by a grassroots objection but instead by vested corporate interests "dedicated to the repeal of the health care reform law" is chilling.

[E]mpowered by the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, corporate-backed groups intent on the repeal of the health care reform law spent an enormous amount of money to help defeat vulnerable supporters of reform and elect candidates who vowed to repeal it.

...This outside spending—a total of over $100 million in the 36 flipped health care races—came from a set of 20 national groups dedicated to the repeal of the health care reform law. Three groups, US Chamber of Commerce, 60 Plus Association, and the Coalition to Protect Seniors received support from the health care industry according to news reports. The other groups identified as pro-repeal, Americans for Tax Reform; Americans for Limited Government; Alliance for America's Future; American Action Network; American Future Fund; Super PAC for America; BIPAC; Revere America; Club for Growth; Americans for Job Security; American Crossroads & Crossroads GPS; Americans for Prosperity; Center For Individual Freedom; FreedomWorks; NFIB, and the New Prosperity Foundation ran advertisements attacking health care reform, often including misleading claims, but were largely exempt from requirements to disclose their funders.

...In the 2010 elections, because of lax restrictions on corporate spending and disclosure laws rife with loopholes, 20 anti-reform groups were able to make substantial investments in congressional elections. At the same time, they were able to magnify the impact of their dollars by spreading misleading claims about the health care reform bill. This week, as the House votes to repeal a bill that would bring health and financial security to millions of Americans, they will see a powerful return on their investments.

In a piece for the Washington Post yesterday, Katrina vanden Heuvel described reversing Citizens United as "a question of whether American democracy itself can beat back a corporate takeover, whether our most cherished principles of self-government can ultimately prevail."

There are those who suggest the coup is a fait accompli, and they may be right, given that successfully turning back Citizens United is contingent upon penetrating the thick armor of apathy that many US voters don to insulate themselves from evidence of the slow erosion of their collective power. That's no small feat, getting people to pay attention to something ugly in order to change it.

But we've certainly got to try.

Support the Fair Elections Now Act, which will need to be reintroduced in this Congressional session. There are all kinds of ways to take action at that site.

Contact your Senators. Contact your Representative. Ask them to support Rep. Donna Edwards' (D-MD) proposed constitutional amendment to quash corporate personhood, which states "unequivocally that corporations are not people and do not have the right to buy elections."

Link this post and the other links contained herein wherever you can, to make people aware of the issue and enlist their teaspoons as part of the solution.

It's time to make some noise.